BREVARD REALTOR BOBBY FREEMAN: ‘Zillow Is Nowhere Close To Being a Local Real Estate Expert’

brevard county real estate market watch

ABOVE VIDEO: Bobby Freeman is a life-time resident of Brevard County and has been a top Realtor in the area for two decades. In this video, Freeman explains that only Realtors advertise updated and accurate property information. Third party websites such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com are notorious for displaying outdated information to its customers.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – What is Zillow really good at? Misrepresenting thousands of dollars that affect home sellers and buyers.

Somehow Zillow has managed to convince some sellers and buyers that Zillow’s Zestimate is the holy gospel regarding a home’s value. I ask my clients how is a computer algorithm supposed to accurately estimate your home’s value if it’s never seen the inside and outside?

Zillow is nowhere close to being a local real estate expert in any community.

According to Zillow – The Zestimate is created by an automated software process, designed by statisticians, and there is no ability for humans to manually alter the Zestimate for a specific property.

“But Zillow says….is often said by some of my clients” says Jennifer McCoy, Broker-Associate for McCoy-Freeman Group with RE/MAX Elite.

“Sellers and buyers should trust an experienced Realtor in regards to a home’s value” says McCoy.

So how accurate is Zillow’s Zestimates? See for yourself here in Brevard County, Florida.

972 Cardon Drive was listed for $164,900 and just sold for $163,000. The Zestimate says $137,458. Can you just imagine if this seller actually sold their home for the Zestimate of $137,458 instead of listing it with a Realtor and selling for $163,000? That’s -$26,542 for that seller.

836 Limerick Drive listed for $389,900 and just sold for $372,000. The Zestimate says $349,595. That’s -$22,405 for that seller.

805 Mallard Road listed for $229,900 and just sold for $215,000. The Zestimate says $186,679. That’s -$28,321 for that seller.

3515 Sansom Circle was listed for $305,000 and just sold for $275,000. The Zestimate says $328,101 and the best part of it all for this home seller is that Zillow says it’s not for sale nor mentioning that there is a pending sale.

1545 Holly Avenue listed and sold for $184,000 on July 11th 2016. The Zestimate says $175,799. Zillow however says this home sold for $109,800 on 2/17/16.

4025 Waterloo Place was listed for $458,900 and just sold for $432,500. The Zestimate says $467,991 and, once again, not for sale.

200 S Sykes Creek Pkwy. #204 was listed for $199,900 and just sold for $175,000. The Zestimate says $161,176. This time, Zillow did display that this listing is in the pending sale status.

If you dig deep enough in Zillow’s website you will find this: We encourage buyers, sellers and homeowners to supplement Zillow’s information by doing other research such as:

For those buyers still saying “But Zillow says…,” I have a real estate deal for you. Zillow says my ocean view condo at 425 Pierce Avenue in Cape Canaveral Zestimates the value at $686,287. My listing price is $659,900. Better hurry and make an offer before the Zestimate goes higher.

Also, if you want to find real time data on listings for sale or under contract, Click Here to visit my real estate website.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bobby Freeman

Bobby Freeman, a life-time resident of Brevard County, has been a top Realtor in the area for two decades. In his first year as an agent, Freeman received a Rising Star award from his Brokers. Since then he has achieved numerous sales awards including the prestigious RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award.

Freeman, Jennifer McCoy and Nikki McCoy-Freeman are family partners for RE/MAX Elite’s McCoy-Freeman Group. Together they have more than 30 years of extensive experience in all aspects of the real estate industry and have sold over $300 million.